To FiniteAnarchy
by Sookie's Secret Santa
Summary: Love from Sookie's Secret Santa xXx


_Any author's notes from the person who wrote this gift fic have been removed to prevent any identifying information being revealed. The individual author can post this story to their own profile, complete with intended A/Ns, after the 26th December. We hope this gift fic is enjoyed by all – but mostly for the person it was written for. Thank you to this author for taking part in the first Sookie's Secret Santa fic exchange. Due to the number of participants it will be impossible to post all of the stories in one day - don't worry, everyone will get their gift before Christmas Eve :o)_

_Santa's little helpers_

_Blakes Boogie & Jan of Arc xx_

Title: I'll Be Home For Christmas

To: FiniteAnarchy ( .net/u/2690039/FiniteAnarchy)

Summary: Felipe de Castro is throwing a Christmas ball in Nevada and throwing a wrench into Sookie's plans for Christmas. Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman

Author's Note: Southern Vampire Mysteries/Book verse only. Everything up to the end of book 8 is canon. This story is set after the events of book 8 and is AU as I am pointedly ignoring book 9 and everything that comes after. 3

I had a date that night. A stay-in date, rather than a night out on the town, but a date all the same and I was excited.

The last couple of months had been stressful to say the least. The whole vampire political structure in Louisiana had changed literally overnight. Felipe de Castro's coup had been well planned and his people well placed. He'd had Sophie-Anne, the former Vampire Queen of Louisiana and all her Sheriffs – well all of them except for Eric, thankfully – killed in one fell swoop. Eric alone had been given the choice to either accept the change in regime and become Felipe's Sheriff or be killed. Given Eric's sense of pride and personal code of honor, I was still somewhat surprised, even several months laterthat he'd accepted. Given that the threat of death if he refused had also been directed at myself, Amelia and Bill, since we'd all been holed up in my house at the time, I was doubly glad when he accepted the terms offered by Victor Madden.

Since the takeover, Eric had been very busy learning what his new monarch wanted from him, but that hadn't stopped him from turning up at my house on a night when my housemate Amelia had 'coincidentally' been away in New Orleans. Truth was I was sure that Eric had been biding his time, waiting for events to play out this way so he was sure we wouldn't be interrupted. It was our first opportunity to talk since he'd regained his lost memories of our time together as lovers – a time I'd secretly been longing over and keenly feeling the loss of. The night of the coup those memories had unexpectedly returned to him, and secretly I'd cursed the timing as much as Eric likely had since we definitely didn't have time to talk right then.

Neither of us is especially good at talking about our feelings, but we'd muddled our way through it as best we could. Afterwards, we did more than talk. For the rest of the night.

Since that talk and everything that came after, Eric and I hadn't seen each other anywhere near as much as I'd have liked, but we did speak on the phone at least once a night and that helped. Still, I missed my boyfriend, if calling a thousand year old vampire my 'boyfriend' wasn't too ridiculous. Partner? Special friend? Lover? According the laws of the vampires, we were married but I'd always sort of balked at calling him my husband. I've never really liked having to put titles on a relationship anyway.

Anyway, Eric had managed to clear his schedule so tonight at least, I would see him. I'd worked the early shift that day so I'd be home not long after Eric rose for the night. Darkness comes so much earlier in the winter, which of course means the vampires can wake up earlier and Eric and I had plans to see each other that night. I'd been looking forward to it all day. I was just getting my coat and purse from Sam's office when I felt the stirring of consciousness through the bond between us that let me know that Eric had risen for the night.

I said goodbye to Sam, who smiled at me from behind his desk**,** and was just heading out into the darkened parking lot behind Merlotte's when I felt an intense flare of anger through the bond that hit me almost like a physical blow. For a moment I actually wobbled where I stood, then I blinked my eyes and took a steadying breath. The rush of anger receded almost instantly and I knew from past experience that Eric was blocking off his side of the bond so I wouldn't feel what he was feeling. I hesitated outside the door of my car, wondering if I should call him when I felt the cell phone in my pocket buzz to let me know I'd just gotten a message. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and glanced at the screen.

_Victor is here._

Well that certainly explained the anger. Victor Madden, Felipe's regent in Louisiana had lately been making a habit of dropping in to Fangtasia unannounced under the guise of being there on Felipe's orders. Eric neither liked nor trusted Victor. For that matter, neither did I. He gave me the creeps. I sighed. Victor had the authority to order any Sheriff in Louisiana to do his bidding, and if he insisted that Eric stay at the bar, Eric would have to. I tried to smother the intense feeling of disappointment as I texted a reply.

_Change of plans?_

The phone buzzed almost immediately.

_No. I WILL see you tonight. I have plans for you._

Well, that cheered me up considerably! I quickly thumbed out my reply.

_OK. See you later. _

On the drive back to my house my mind was pretty focused on the possibilities such a promise might provide me. There was hardly any traffic on the roads and I made it back to my house in good time. If Eric was still planning to be here by seven thirty, that still gave me an hour to eat something, shower and change before he arrived.

I was brushing out my wet hair when I heard a knock at the door. I hadn't heard the sounds of a car, so clearly he hadn't come in his convertible. He must have flown. Brush in hand, I walked to the door and opened it.

God**,**he looked good. Vampires don't feel the cold the way humans do, so he was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and charcoal grey t-shirt with no coat. His hair was pulled back from his face.

"Hello," I started to say, but I honestly didn't get that far before his lips were on mine and he was pushing us into the house. I dropped the brush but suddenly found that I didn't really care.

"Door!" I managed to get out, and he shut it behind him before pulling me up into his arms. I certainly had no objections. He got us to the couch and twisted us so I ended up straddling his lap while he continued kissing me. It felt so good, to be this physically close to him after nothing but phone calls for the last week. He let his hands wander up under my sweater and when he encountered nothing but bare skin underneath it, he pulled back a bit to look at me, an amused smile on his face.

I grinned at him. "I didn't see the point of putting on a bra. You'll just tear it off."

He smile widened and he laughed. "Yes," he said, and his tone was entirely unapologetic.

"What had you so riled up earlier?" I asked.

And there I went killing the mood on us. His smile vanished.

"Felipe is throwing a Christmas ball," he said through gritted teeth. "That I am expected to attend in my capacity as Sheriff."

"In Nevada?" I clarified.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Just you?"

As soon as the words left my lips, I found myself wondering I cared**.** I certainly didn't want to go to Nevada, in case the king decided he'd like to annex me the way he'd annexed the entire state of Louisiana. Eric seemed to follow my train of thought.

"Oh, don't worry that you were forgotten in Felipe's invitation. You're definitely invited**,** lover," his tone was grim now and made me shiver. "In fact**,** Victor made it quite clear how it would be in my best interest to make sure you attended with me."

Yikes, that wasn't good.

"A threat," I said.

He nodded. "Not explicit, but yes."

"So we're going to Nevada?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No. You are not going to Nevada."

"But if they're threatening you-" I started to protest. He cut me off.

"Lover, I don't care about the threat to me and Pam will be there as well. I know if I take you with me, it will not go well. At best, only one of us would be likely to return. At worst, neither of us."

I swallowed. That wasn't hard to work out: the one of us returning would be Eric, returning to Louisiana solo, with me staying behind as Felipe's property. Neither of us returning was actually the far more likely of the two scenarios since we both knew that there was no way Eric would give me up without a fight and a fight on Felipe's territory would get Eric killed.

"I understand."

"Victor made it clear that I am to leave the night after next."

Today was the twenty-first so the night after next would be December twenty-third.

"The ball will be the following night," he said and I could hear the anger starting to creep into his voice.

Christmas Eve. We'd been planning to spend Christmas together. The sense of disappointment was crushing and unexpectedly I found myself blinking back tears of frustration. He cupped my cheek in one of his big hands.

"I'm sorry, lover," he said and I could tell he meant it. "I know you were looking forward to our being together."

"It's not your fault," I told him. Really it wasn't his fault at all - it was Felipe's and Victor's. Eric's current position in the hierarchy of vampire politics was far more precarious than it had been before the coup and I knew that Victor seemed to take a malicious delight in reminding Eric of all the harm that could come to those under his protection if he didn't toe the line.

I'm not generally a violent person but if at that moment I'd had a stake in my hand and Victor Madden in my house, I might just have gone for the bastard's un-beating heart.

Eric wrapped his arms around me and I lay my head against his still chest and closed my eyes.

"I will see if anything can be done," he said softly. I made a sound of agreement, though a voice in the back of my head was telling me not to be an idiot and get my hopes up. "I promise I'd much rather be here with you."

He nuzzled the top of my head with his cheek and I could tell he was taking in the scent of me fresh from the shower, free of makeup or perfumes.

I would have thought that my libido would have been dampened by the disappointing news, but no, as it so often did when Eric was touching me, it roared back to life. Eric's nostrils flared and I knew he could tell where my thoughts had just gone back to. He smirked.

"For now, let us forget everything else. I have you for the rest of the night and I intend to take advantage of that fact."

We'd made it to my bed before he realized that I wasn't wearing anything under my sweat pants either.

Much later Eric was standing over the bed already dressed again, kissing me. He glowed faintly in my darkened bedroom.

"I must go. It is not long until sunrise."

I nodded sleepily. On another night, he might have spent the day in the hidey-hole Bill had built in the closet of my old bedroom, but I knew he had to be back in Shreveport today. "Will I see you before you leave for Nevada?"

He frowned. "I don't know. I will try."

I nodded again, snuggling deeper into the old quilt on the bed.

He kissed me once more and then he was gone.

It was cold the next morning. Given that I was one of the few waitresses who was available to work the earlier part of the day on Christmas Eve – Sam would be closing early – I had the day off. At a loss of what to do with myself, I fell back on old habits and ended up cleaning. Gran and I had always done a full house cleaning before every major holiday when she was alive and I continued the tradition on her memory. I put on my rattiest clothing, gathered up my cleaning supplies and prepared for battle. By two in the afternoon, the old wooden floors had been scrubbed, the counters and sink had been scoured within an inch of their lives and windows gleamed. I surveyed the surroundings**.** Gran would have approved.

After a dinner of re-heated pizza, I settled down in front of the television and watched 'It's a Wonderful Life'. At the end of the movie, I sniffled into a Kleenex and decided that I'd save 'White Christmas' for tomorrow night. I fell into bed that night wishing that Eric was there next to me. I dreamt of Eric in a Santa hat and the red speedo-looking underwear he'd worn in my kitchen oh so long ago. He pulled me onto his lap and asked me if I'd been naughty or nice this year.

I needed a cold shower when I woke up.

I went to work that evening feeling more depressed than I had in a long while. I know that Christmas is a happy time for most people, a time for the gathering of family and friends, but since the death of my Gran I had spent Christmas alone.

Once upon a time, I would have spent Christmas with a friend, like with Arlene and the kids, but Arlene and I hadn't been friendly now for a while and I knew I was not going to appearing on the list of people welcome to her trailer for Christmas dinner. Amelia was back in New Orleans visiting her father. My brother Jason had plans to spend Christmas in Hotshot with his wife Crystal Norris' family. He'd invited me to come along, probably out of a sense of brotherly duty more than a desire to have me there, and I'd politely declined. Crystal and I aren't exactly friends and I really didn't want to be a third wheel.

Merlotte's was pretty empty when I got there. There was only one person sitting in my section and seeing as I didn't recognize him, I figured he were probably one of the truckers from out of state who occasionally stopped by to eat or drink. Arlene had looked up when I walked in and pointedly looked away when she saw it was me. Even though I was getting used to her cold treatment of me, there were times it still stung and feeling as low as I did, this was one of those times.

I said goodnight to Holly, the waitress I was replacing**,** and started to work on my section when the door to the bar opened and my brother Jason rushed in looking flustered. He scanned the room quickly, then found me and started to head in my direction.

"Jason?"

"Sookie, sis," he said and he looked suddenly uncertain about what to say.

"What?" I asked, feeling suddenly sick with worry. Something was obviously wrong. "What is it?"

"Uh sis, have you talked to your boyfriend tonight?"

The feeling started to veer away from worry and into territory that would definitely be classified as panic.

"No," I said**.** "Why? Jason, what's going on?"

"His bar was on the Shreveport six o'clock news. Apparently someone firebombed it."

Abruptly I sat down on the nearest chair, feeling the sound of blood rushing in my ears. Distantly I could hear Jason asking if I was alright and then Sam was crouched beside the chair I was sitting in and he was offering me a glass of water. I accepted the glass with shaky hands and Sam motioned for Terry Bellefleur to pass him the remote control to the TV above the bar. He changed the channel from the replay of an old football game to the local Shreveport channel.

A blond reporter was standing in front of Fangtasia interviewing a fire fighter whose face was blackened with smoke and what was presumably ash. Words filtered through the haze I found myself in, things like "suspected arson" and "hate crime" though what grabbed my attention and held it was the fact that - thank god - the bar had been empty at the time. There had been no vampires or humans inside.

All of a sudden it was easier to breathe. I was able to take a shaky sip from the glass of water.

"Call him," Sam told me. "You'll feel better when you've heard his voice."

He was right. I fumbled for my cellphone almost dropping it and dialed Eric's number. It went to voicemail, but before I had the chance to fully panic, I received a text message.

_Safe. I'll be in touch. – E_

I closed my eyes in relief. Eric was alive. No one had been hurt.

Sam made Jason drive me home after that. I'd protested that I was perfectly capable of working my shift, but Sam wouldn't budge. He promised he'd have someone run my car over to me in the morning, and shuffled me off into Jason's truck. Jason kept glancing out of the corner of his eye at during the ride back to my house, but I stayed quiet not feeling up to making conversation.

Jason walked me to the porch and to my surprise; he gave me a tight hug. He mumbled something about being glad my boyfriend was OK and then asked me again if I wanted to spend Christmas with him and Crystal. I looked up at my older brother and smiled, but shook my head. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before I went into my house and locked the door behind me. A few moments later I heard the engine of his truck start up, and he drove away.

I dropped down on the couch and pulled my cell phone out of pocket, as though merely looking at the screen would summon another text message from Eric. I waited, fighting the urge to call or text. While I wouldn't have thought it possible, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Eric was kneeling next to the couch and was gently shaking my shoulder.

I launched myself at him and I suspect it was only his vampire strength that kept the two of us from toppling over to the floor. I threw my arms around him and pressed my face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I worried you, lover," he said.

"I was so worried about you. Jason told me about the fire and then I was watching the news and I wasn't able to reach you." I tried to keep myself from babbling. It wasn't working especially well.

To my surprise, he seemed to find something I'd said funny because he started laughing quietly. I gaped at him. "Why are you laughing?" I demanded.

That only set him off harder.

"Eric!"

"Oh**,** Sookie," he said**.**"I'm sorry to have frightened you, I am… but I was never in any danger."

I stared at him. "You weren't?" I asked in confusion. Clearly I was missing something.

Then it clicked. "The fire. You planned it."

He nodded his expression proud that I'd worked it out. "Yes. Two humans accepted payment to do the task and then promptly had their memories altered. They now have a memory of a night well spent at a poker game to explain their newfound wealth."

I slapped him. Hard. Not that it would hurt him. If anything I'm sure it hurt my hand hurt worse than his face did.

"You jerk!" I snarled. "How could you let me think that… that…"

My anger fizzled away to nothing in the memory of the fear I'd had that he was hurt or worse.

His expression turned serious. "I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you beforehand. I needed things to look authentic. If you'd known what I was going to do…" he trailed off.

"I'd have tried to talk you out of it." I said grudgingly.

He nodded. "Now I have a perfectly reasonable excuse not to attend Felipe's ball. I called the King myself to tell him of the incident and to explain that due to the police investigation I would need to stay in Shreveport. He was**,** of course, quite sympathetic."

I stared at him. "You hired someone to firebomb your own bar."

He shrugged. "The damage is minimal. I had them attack at a specific time, then immediately after had one of the bar staff call the fire department as an anonymous tip. Given that it was before sunset, that immediately removes myself or any of the vampires under me of suspicion."

"But the repairs costs…"

"That is why I pay insurance."

I gaped at him again. "You're committing insurance fraud?"

He looked back at me, his expression blank. "So that I can spend Christmas with you, as we planned? Yes."

I blinked several times then threw my arms around him for the second time that night.

"You… you're …" I was at a loss for words as I started to laugh. "You're unbelievable."

He grinned at me. "A Christmas miracle?" he asked, his tone teasing.

I elbowed him. "Don't press your luck, mister."

We spent the rest of the night curled up together on the couch. An hour before dawn, he quietly asked if he could spend the day at my place.

"You don't need to be back in Shreveport?" I asked, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.

He shook his head. "Pam is dealing with things for me. I have tomorrow night to spend with you and part of the night after. She tells me it is my Christmas gift."

"Of course you can spend the night!" I said and then I kissed him. That kiss turned into several more kisses until eventually Eric had to untangle himself from my arms to get safely hidden away in the hidey-hole before the sun rose.

I pulled back the hidden flap in the floor for him to enter and gave him another kiss. I looked up into a pair of blue, blue eyes and wondered all over again how I'd ended up with this man.

He'd paid someone to set his bar on fire. To spend Christmas with me. Me.

"I love you," I blurted out.

For a moment he stared at me, and then he grinned from ear to ear.

I blushed a little. "What. You know I do."

"Yes. But it is good to hear you say it all the same," he said.

He was already fighting the pull of his day sleep, I could see it. I motioned him toward the hidey-hole. Right before he climbed in, he turned back to me with an expression of hesitation. "Will you be here when I rise?"

"I promise."

When he woke, I was there with his Christmas present – me, wrapped in a strategically placed bow and absolutely nothing else.


End file.
